I don’t know if there’s a hell, but if it exists, the Rev. Fred Phelps and other members of the Westboro Baptist Church deserve a place. In this world, their repulsive actions are shielded by the Constitution.

A Maryland court has ordered leaders of Kansas’ fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church to pay almost $11 million in damages to Albert Snyder, the father of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq. Snyder sued the controversial church after members picketed his son’s funeral in March 2006.

Kyle Snyder fled to Canada when the Army threatened to send him back to Iraq, where he says he had been made to perform duties for which he was not trained. Snyder’s lawyer says the Army had agreed to discharge his client if he came home but now intends to return him to his original unit.

That’s the conclusion of a career development expert with a new book about gay leadership in the workplace. He found “job engagement, job satisfaction and workplace morale among employees reporting to white-collar gay men to be upwards of 35% higher than nationally reported statistics.”